Harold Faulkner
'Harold James Faulkner '(born July 26, 1954) is an American politician who currently serves as the 49th Governor of Tennessee. He previously served in the U.S. Senate from 2003 to 2015 and before that sat on Chattanooga's city council. Early Life Harold grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee to a lumberjack and a stay-at-home mother. The Faulkner family was a traditional middle-class family, not particularly wealthy but not poor either. Pre-Political Career At the age of eighteen, Harold decided to follow in his father's footsteps and worked in the lumber industry for over twenty years. During his time in the lumber industry, Harold had a life-changing experience when he claims to "have found the voice of God." This moment occurred when he went out to the wilderness to mark which trees ought to be cut down. Harold had meandered deep into the woods, only to realize that his compass was not working and that he was lost. Nearly two weeks pass before he is finally rescued by a hunter, and the only reason why he was found was because (he claims) a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, had guided him to the direction of the hunter. From that day on, Harold vowed to give his life to God. After nineteen years in the lumber industry, Harold felt as if "God was calling him to public service." Political Career In 1991, at the age of 37, Harold decided to run for Chattanooga City Council. His first election was a defeat, but he barely edged out an election victory on the second attempt in 1995. After his term on the council expired, Faulkner embarked on a failed bid for Mayor, which he lost by a substantial margin. In 2000, Harold decided to take a moonshot attempt in the election for Tennessee's open Senate seat, being that the incumbent declined to run for re-election, and ultimately lost that election as well. However, Harold did end up just narrowly losing in the Republican primary to the ultimate winner of the general election. Emboldened by this "moral victory," Faulkner immediately started a grassroots campaign for the 2002 election for United States Senate. Harold clinched the Republican nomination with ease and won the general election in a landslide victory against former attorney William Butte-Lyker. In 2008, then-Senator Faulkner ran again for re-election and won his bid to remain in the United States Senate against Comedian turned politician Amy Bloomer. Though Senator Faulkner openly considered running for a third-term, but decided against it and eventually announcing that he was running for Tennessee Governor in 2014, which like his first bid for Senator was an open-seat. Faulkner won his bid for Tennessee Governor after defeating Former Attorney General Abraham Holder, where he has remained ever since. Political Positions Gov. Faulkner is a strong opponent to same-sex marriage and is consistently ranked as one of the most pro-life governors in the United States of America. Faulkner is a fiscal moderate, leaning toward fiscal conservatism, and he joins fellow neoconservatives as a strong supporter of interventionism foreign policy. Gov. Faulkner is also a strong advocate for second-amendment rights and was a national guardsmen for the state of Tennessee during the nineteen years he was working in the lumber industry as well.